If you own a Windows computer, you have an inbuilt security tool that defends you from malware and viruses. It’s known as Microsoft Defender, or Windows Security and offers a unified experience to manage security, antivirus, and performance features. It also lets you monitor the health of your device and protects your data by using password management and hardware encryption. Installing an antivirus program from a third party will disable the Microsoft Defender Antivirus engine, however it won’t impact the capabilities of Windows Security itself.
Microsoft Defender’s real-time security is among the most crucial features of Windows Security. This feature scans your system and blocks malicious software in real time. It can also quarantine and restore suspicious applications which were incorrectly blocked. It’s important to keep in mind that the Microsoft Defender scanner relies on cloud and online malware definitions, which could result in it being slower than paid competitors in virus and malware detection rates in certain cases.
Other settings you can access through Windows Security include User Account Control that warns you when a person or thing attempts to change the system-level settings, locking the screen until an administrator is able to confirm the change. You can also set how often Windows Security Center will conduct a background scan and scan for updates.
You can also make backups of important files using the Microsoft OneDrive folder using Windows Security and use it to safely erase your hard drive and begin with a new one. It’s a simple method to protect your computer’s operating systems as well as personal information.
